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Pasta with Roasted Scapes & Asparagus with Sea Scallops

Usually I prefer to consult recipes, then go shopping, then cook...in that order.  There's something about the logic of it all that I find comforting, let's say.

This past Saturday, my trip to the Farmers' Market came prior to figuring out what I was going to make for dinner, so at 4:30 or so in the afternoon, I felt the familiar dread creep upon me. I hate cooking when I'm limited to whatever ingredients I have on hand, even when they are freshly purchased scapes, asparagus, snow peas, etc.

After a brief perusal of past posts regarding scapes and asparagus, I decided I would roast both, even though I have never roasted scapes. I was also looking for an excuse to use some wonderful linguine al nero di seppia that a friend brought back from Venice, so the scallops seemed a no-brainer after that.

Roasted Scapes and Asparagus

1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces (I used the tips only)
4-5 scapes, cut into 2 inch pieces (leave off the thinnest part of the scape which will only burn during roasting)
olive oil
kosher salt or Maldon sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.
Lay the scape and asparagus pieces on a cookie sheet in a single layer.
Drizzle thoroughly with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix with hands so that each piece of scape and asparagus is thoroughly coated with oil, salt and pepper.
Cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until the tips of the asparagus begin to brown just a bit.

I put the water on to boil while the oven was preheating, so the timing was about right for the pasta. That said, feel free to leave the scapes and asparagus aside after roasting because tossing them in with the freshly cooked pasta will reheat them.

I left the scallops for last, and followed this easy recipe for pan-sautéed scallops.
I served the scallops over the linguine tossed with the roasted scapes and asparagus, a little bit of butter and parmesan.
Next Post: Strawberry Shortcake!

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